Behind the image

Wedding Photography: A documentary Approach

What makes a wedding unique, and really yours? For me it's definitely about the people. The people at your wedding are always your nearest and dearest, the ones that mean the most. They may have travelled from far and wide to share your day, or maybe you see most of them almost every single day.

It's often the in between bits that yield the best images for me; taking vows and confetti runs are the grand stand moments and they are obviously lovely and very important, but I firmly believe in always keeping my eyes peeled for the little things that are happening around me, for those people who mean the most to you acting naturally and being themselves.

This image was shot during the speeches at the fantastic Bellingham Castle, I saw a twitch of the curtains behind the groom's Dad and changed my angle to investigate, to see the Bride and Groom's Niece Sofia who was flower girl for the day peeking around the curtain.

I shot around 5 frames, as the moment was fleeting and wanted a nice composition. I was happy with the diagonal of the curtain and the highlights leading the eye around the frame and the gesture of her hand almost tapping the speaker on the back, a lovely moment that I am certain no one else noticed as they were concentrating on the fantastic speech at the time, but now that moment that lasted 1/250th of a second has been captured forever.

This is what shooting weddings in a documentary style is about for me - not just taking pictures of guests arbitrarily, but watching and waiting for those little moments that quite often no one notices.